Thursday, 5 January 2017

Israel’s Rights as a Nation-State in International Diplomacy

A concerted campaign is being waged against Israel to question its very legitimacy in virtually every aspect of its historical, political, and cultural life, with the aim of undermining the very foundations of Israel’s existence.In response, several world-renowned experts have joined to present an authoritative exposition of Israel’s Rights as a Nation-State in International Diplomacy, edited by Alan Baker, former legal counsel of Israel’s Foreign Ministry and former ambassador to Canada, and published jointly by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs and the World Jewish Congress.

This book explains clearly why the Jewish people deserve a state of their own and refutes all the major claims against Israel’s rights. You may download the book in PDF by following the link at bottom.INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW

by Alan Baker

The importance of this book arose in light of a concerted campaign launched some years ago and
presently being waged against Israel by Palestinian, Muslim, and other non-Arab elements in the
international community.

This campaign seeks to question the very legitimacy of Israel in virtually every aspect of its historical,
political, and cultural life, and even extends into international organizations, international media,
and the web, with the aim of questioning and undermining the very foundations of Israel’s
existence.

With a view to providing the international community in general, and readers, academics,
parliamentarians, and others, with an authoritative exposition of Israel’s basic rights as a state in
international diplomacy, several world-renowned experts have been asked to write a chapter on
some of the most central aspects of Israel’s existence and rights.

In light of claims by Palestinian leaders questioning the very right to statehood of a Jewish state,
we chose to open this book with a chapter on “The National Rights of Jews” by Prof. Ruth Gavison,
recipient of the 2011 Israel Prize for Law and one of the world’s experts in the field of nationalism
and public law.

Addressing the issue of the right to establish a national home in Palestine, renowned historian and
author Sir Martin Gilbert, who among other things has written the official biography of Sir Winston
Churchill, discusses in the second chapter entitled “An Overwhelmingly Jewish State” - From the
Balfour Declaration to the Palestine Mandate,” issues regarding the League of Nations Mandate and
the British government’s understanding of the Jewish right to a national home in Palestine.

Since Israel’s right to establish a Jewish state has been and still is constantly under discussion, Prof.
Shlomo Avineri, one of Israel’s greatest experts in political science, has written the third chapter on
“Self-Determination and Israel’s Declaration of Independence.”

The refugee issue has tenaciously been on the international agenda since 1948, and figures in all
the major international documentation. But while this was originally an issue of Jewish refugees
from Arab countries, as well as of Palestinian refugees, the Jewish-refugee aspect appears to have
been forgotten by the international community. Dr. Stanley A. Urman, an expert on the refugee
issue who heads the international organization “Justice for Jews from Arab Countries,” has written
the fourth chapter, “The United Nations and Middle East Refugees: The Differential Treatment of
Arabs and Jews.”

Over the years, and despite developments within the peace process, the international community
has formulated and insists on reiterating a sort of “accepted terminology” that defines Israel’s
status as an “occupying power” and determines that “settlements are illegal,” without any serious
attempt to review the accuracy or truth behind such terminology. In the fifth chapter, on “Israel’s
Rights Regarding the Territories and the Settlements in the Eyes of the International Community,”
I address this phenomenon and point to the inherent lack of accuracy and the way in which the
international community has allowed itself to be misled by clichés.

Despite the fact that the issue of borders has been agreed between Israel and the PLO to be a
subject for negotiation between them in the negotiations on the permanent status, the Palestinian
leadership is persistently attempting to dictate the outcome of such negotiations through unilateral
campaigning in the international community with a view to achieving recognition of the “1967
borders.” Prof. Nicholas Rostow, a prominent American international lawyer and former legal
counsel to the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, addresses this issue in the sixth chapter on “The
Historical and Legal Contexts of Israel’s Borders.”

UN Security Council Resolution 242 of November 1967 serves as one of the foundations of all
the peace treaties and other agreements within the Middle East peace process, as well as later
UN resolutions on Middle East issues. However, considerable efforts are constantly being made
to proffer interpretations of aspects of this resolution that are not compatible, neither with the
text nor with the intentions of those who drafted Resolution 242. One of the key authorities on
international law, and an expert on the legal documentation of the Arab-Israeli peace process,
Prof. Ruth Lapidoth, who herself participated in many of the negotiations in the peace process, has
written the seventh chapter and addresses the issue of “The Misleading Interpretation of Security
Council Resolution 242 (1967).”

The issue of Jerusalem is perhaps one of the oldest issues on the agenda of the international
community, and in one way or another has figured in historical and legal discussion for hundreds
and possibly thousands of years. One of Israel’s experts on Jerusalem is Dr. Dore Gold, a former
ambassador to the United Nations and currently president of the Jerusalem Center for Public
Affairs, who has written the eighth chapter on “Defending Israel’s Legal Rights to Jerusalem.”

While the principle behind the Middle East peace process, as set out both in the various UN
resolutions and agreements, is premised on the assumption that all issues between the parties will
be solved by negotiation, the Palestinian leadership have nevertheless developed a modus operandi
of seeking unilateral determinations by the United Nations and other bodies for issues that are
agreed to be settled by negotiation. Dan Diker, Secretary-General of the World Jewish Congress
and Adjunct Fellow of the Hudson Institute in Washington, DC, addresses in the ninth chapter the
issue of “Palestinian Unilateralism and Israel’s Rights in Arab-Israeli Diplomacy.”

Since the withdrawal of Israel’s forces and civilians, and dismantling of settlements in the Gaza
Strip in 2006, much has been written and discussed as to whether Israel nevertheless continues to
“occupy” the area. Indeed, UN resolutions and UN rapporteurs continue to refer to Israel as the
“occupying power” in the Gaza Strip notwithstanding that Israel is no longer present there and in
fact the Hamas terror organization has established its own administration there. Perhaps the most
fitting expert to discuss Israel’s status vis-à-vis the Gaza Strip is Col. (res.) Pnina Sharvit-Baruch,
lecturer in international law at Tel Aviv University and formerly head of the International Law
Department of the Israel Defense Forces, who addresses in the tenth chapter the issue of “Is the
Gaza Strip Occupied by Israel?”

While Israel, since the spring of 1949, has been a full-fledged member of the United Nations, to this
day it is discriminated against and does not enjoy the full rights of sovereign equality guaranteed
by the UN Charter in that it is not a member of the regional groups to which member states of the
UN belong, and thus is unable to field its candidacy for such bodies as the Security Council and the
International Court, as well as other major bodies. In the eleventh chapter, I analyze this situation
under the title “The Violation of Israel’s Right to Sovereign Equality in the United Nations.”

Prof. Alan M. Dershowitz, the eminent U.S. jurist, addresses in the final, twelfth chapter,
“Countering Challenges to Israel’s Legitimacy,” some of the claims persistently being made against
Israel’s legitimacy, such as the claim that Israel is an illegitimate “colonial” state; that it secured its
statehood unlawfully; that it is an apartheid state; and the claim for a “one-state solution.”

I am sure that this book will serve as a vital tool for all those who are genuinely interested in
looking through the shallow and clichéd attempts by those in the international community who are
determined, for whatever reason, to question Israel’s legitimacy and to deny its rights.